The present application relates to a method of manufacturing a retardation film using an alignable material such as liquid crystal.
Recently, a display capable of three-dimensional display has been increasingly developed. A three-dimensional display method includes, for example, a method where a right-eye image and a left-eye image are displayed on a display screen, and the images are viewed by a viewer wearing polarized glasses (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-221461 (JP-A-2000-221461)). The method is achieved by disposing a patterned retardation film on a front surface of a display capable of two-dimensional display, for example, a cathode-ray tube, a liquid crystal display, or a plasma display. The retardation film is patterned in retardation or optical axis at a display pixel level in order to control a polarization state of light entering into respective two eyes.
When the retardation film is attached to a display panel or to a black stripe film, accurate alignment is necessary. When the retardation film is manufactured of a roll base, the roll base needs to be accurately aligned to a punching machine. In the former case, each of the retardation film and the display panel or black stripe film is typically put with an alignment mark to achieve such alignment. In the latter case, typically, the roll base is put with an alignment mark, and a marker sheet is disposed on an optical path of a detection camera. A method of forming the alignment mark on an object conceivably includes, for example, a method where an alignment mark is added on a produced object by evaporation or printing, or a method where an object is produced of a marked member (see JP-A-2000-221461).